Royal Adelaide Hospital

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): Can the minister provide some clarity to the house for his last comment, when he said that we shouldn't be surprised that the builder is taking this action against the state government?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:12): Because the builder has taken a significant hit through liquidated damages because of the delay in the delivery of the new RAH—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is called to order.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —and that has flowed through to the state taxpayers in terms of roughly $400 million in service payments that have not been paid to Celsus, so that is the total amount off the price. The state has done very, very well out of the contractual—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader and the member for Unley are called to order.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The $400 million that we have saved comes off the total amount that we will pay off the project over the total life of the service payments, so that is why I assert that it's not terribly surprising that the builder would take some pretty speculative legal action in the Federal Court.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Morialta, and I warn him and I warn the leader.